Right2Education

What Right2Education does

Right2Education is a student-run nonprofit NGO (Stichting), domiciled in Amsterdam, Netherlands (RSIN: 856533749, KVK: 66397502), founded in October 2015 by Amsterdam University College students following volunteer work at the Serbian-Croatian border. Operating since January 2016, it provides free Dutch (levels A1 through B2) and English (levels A1 through C1) language education to refugees and asylum seekers, with a stated cumulative reach of over 4,000 guest students — including 810 served in the 2024-2025 academic year. Programs run as 8-week courses four times a year (September, November, February, April), plus 4-week intensive Dutch courses during AUC's January and June terms, where guest students attend official AUC Dutch classes alongside matriculated students and receive temporary UvA IDs.

The service portfolio is integrated around three pillars: (1) language instruction taught twice weekly for three hours by volunteer teachers organized in pairs, with maximum 25 students per class; (2) a buddy system that pairs each guest student with an AUC, UvA, or VU Amsterdam student to support language practice and social integration; and (3) a social events program of weekly community activities (potlucks, museum visits, game nights, ice skating, film screenings). Course completion yields a certificate documenting proficiency hours usable for further education and employment applications. There is no proprietary technology platform; operations run on Google Forms (applications), the Canvas LMS at UvA (intensive-course students), WhatsApp group chats, and Squarespace (web).

Right2Education operates as a free-at-point-of-use educational service with a 100% volunteer organizational model — all 12 governing board members are unpaid, drawn from the AUC student body with faculty and administrative support from the university. Revenue consists entirely of donations accepted via IBAN bank transfer and through the Geef.nl donation platform, with ANBI (Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling) status enabling tax-deductible giving. The core institutional partner is Amsterdam University College, supplemented by partnerships with UvA, VU, and the Amsterdam Municipality (founding partner). Operations are confined to Amsterdam, with no paid staff, no fees to students, and no external funding rounds or institutional investors.

Name

Right2Education

Legal name

Right2Education Foundation

Website

https://right2.education

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Right2Education is a student-run nonprofit NGO in Amsterdam, Netherlands, providing free Dutch (A1-B2) and English (A1-C1) language courses to refugees and asylum seekers, supplemented by a university buddy system and weekly community events. It has served over 4,000 guest students since 2016 and is funded entirely by donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Language Education Services

NAICS

Language Schools (611630), Educational Services (611), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Homework Help & Study Skills Coaching (EDAJALAB)

Keywords

• Refugee language education
• Dutch language courses
• English language courses
• Asylum seeker integration
• Community language programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Amsterdam

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations: NGO funded entirely by donations. Accepts donations via IBAN transfer (NL28 TRIO 0338 5249 75). No paid services - all education is free for students.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Right2Education is a student-run nonprofit NGO that delivers free Dutch (A1-B2) and English (A1-C1) language courses to refugees and asylum seekers in Amsterdam. Courses run as 8-week sessions four times per year at Amsterdam University College, complemented by intensive courses during AUC periods, a buddy system pairing students with university students, and weekly community events. All instruction is provided free of charge and the organization is funded entirely by donations.

Product overview

Right2Education is a student-run NGO operating as a single, unified educational service rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The organization provides language education programs for refugees and asylum seekers in Amsterdam, centered around Dutch (A1-B1.2) and English (A1-C1) language courses offered in 8-week sessions. These core offerings are supplemented by Dutch Intensive Courses (4-week accelerated programs at AUC), a Buddy System pairing students with university students for integration support, and a Social Events Program with weekly community activities. Additional supporting services include teacher/volunteer training and a Certificate Program. All offerings are provided free of charge and operate from Amsterdam University College facilities, with the various programs interconnected through the application process, shared events calendar, and community guidelines.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dutch Language Courses Dutch language instruction at levels A1, A2, B1.1, and B1.2 for refugees and asylum seekers, taught twice weekly for three hours over 8-week periods in September-October, November-December, February-March, and April-May.
• English Language Courses English language instruction at levels A1/A2, A2+/B1, B2, and C1 for refugees and asylum seekers, offered in the same 8-week format as Dutch courses.
• Dutch Intensive Courses Accelerated 4-week Dutch language courses (A1 and A2 levels) held four times per week, three hours per session, where refugees join official AUC Dutch classes alongside AUC students and receive a temporary UvA ID.
• Buddy System A pairing program that matches Right2Education students with AUC/UvA/VU university students to facilitate language practice, social integration, and community building through weekly meetups and joint event attendance.
• Social Events Program Weekly community events including potlucks, game nights, museum visits, picnics, ice skating, movie nights, and seasonal celebrations that complement academic learning and build community among students.
• Certificate Program Upon successful completion of courses, students receive certificates proving their proficiency and documenting hours of study, which can support further education and employment applications.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered founding, core and supporting.

• Amsterdam MunicipalityfoundingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2015Key founding partner that helped identify prospective students and provided support during the initial refugee response in Amsterdam. Assisted in the pilot phase to open AUC Dutch language courses to refugees.
• Amsterdam University College (AUC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary institutional partner providing venue (Academic Building and Dorms), facilitating student volunteers as teachers, and enabling intensive language courses. R2E was founded by AUC students and maintains close ties with AUC faculty, management, and administration.
• University of Amsterdam (UvA)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner university whose students volunteer as teachers and buddies. Intensive course students receive UvA IDs for access to university systems.
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)supportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner university whose students volunteer as teachers and buddies alongside AUC and UvA students.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Babbel: Subscription language-learning platform popular with adults learning Dutch among other languages; relevant emerging competitor for at-home study time that could substitute or complement an in-person program like R2E's.
• Duolingo: Consumer-facing digital language-learning platform; an emerging tech-led player whose free tier competes for the same language-learning attention from newcomers, though in a different delivery format and broader market.

Others

• Amsterdam Municipality (gemeente Amsterdam): Founding partner and likely public-sector commissioner of refugee integration services in Amsterdam; relevant ecosystem participant whose policy and funding decisions shape R2E's operating environment and demand.

Direct peers

• UAF (Foundation for Refugee Students): Dutch nonprofit that supports refugees in higher education through funding, coaching and language preparation; the closest Netherlands-wide analogue focused on educational access for refugees, with strong institutional and academic positioning analogous to R2E.
• Kiron Open Higher Education: Nonprofit providing free online higher-education pathways to refugees, including language and academic preparation; directly comparable free, refugee-targeted education mission, though delivered online rather than in-person.
• Stichting BOOST: Amsterdam-area foundation offering educational support and language training to newcomers and refugees; highly comparable community-led, free-to-learner model targeting the same student population as Right2Education.
• Capabel Taal: Netherlands-based language training provider specifically focused on newcomers, refugees and asylum seekers; a comparable mission-driven language instruction operation with overlapping student segments.

Broad incumbents

• ROC van Amsterdam: Regional adult education and training center that, among other things, delivers subsidized Dutch language courses to newcomers; a large, publicly funded incumbent in the same Dutch-language-for-adults market.
• VluchtelingenWerk Nederland: The national Dutch Council for Refugees; a larger, well-funded incumbent that supports refugee integration more broadly (legal, social, and language) and overlaps with R2E on the integration mandate.
• Babel Talencentrum: Established commercial Dutch language school chain with locations across the Netherlands; competes in the broader Dutch-as-a-second-language market and represents the paid alternative to R2E's free offering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/right2education
• Instagraminstagram.com/right2education

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles21 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Right2Education